Educators, Law Enforcement Agents Come Together for Active Shooting Training in Forsyth

Educators, Law Enforcement Agents Come Together for Active Shooting Training in Forsyth

FORSYTH, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) -- A discussion on how to spot and prevent an active shooter drew hundreds to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth Tuesday.

The FBI is hosting the two day conference on active shooting to get educators and law enforcement agents on the same page regarding mass shootings.

"We have taken after actions from Aurora, after actions from Sandy Hook, after actions from the Sikh Temple shooting, and looked at what worked, and what didn't," said Mark Giuliano, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Atlanta Division.

Now, that information will help the 500 men and women who gathered for the conference better respond and spot signs of a potential threat.

"It's a very collective effort of trying to identify shooters to prevent the violence from every occurring in the first place," said Keith Howard, Deputy Director of the GPSTC.

The FBI says some observable pre-attack behaviors to look out for are change in routine, extreme recklessness, and no thought of the future.

During the seminar, they showed a news coverage of a 1999 mass shooting in Atlanta where Mark O. Barton shot and killed 13 people including himself and his family in Atlanta. Authorities note Burger lost a hundred thousand of dollars in the stock market in the month before the shooting spree.

Seeing that video, reminded Bibb County Sheriff's Deputy Clayton Williams of his friends who worked the case.

"It did have a lasting impact on the officers who were there. So it kind of hit home a little bit," said Williams.

Since then, Bibb County Lieutenant Annette Horn says there's been more open conversation about preventing and responding to mass tragedies.

"We're teaching it now, before we didn't," said Horn.

Horn hopes this conversation gets school officials and law enforcement agencies in our area to work together, because as they were reminded Tuesday mass shootings happen, and they can happen anywhere.

"God forbid if something like this were to happen, we'd all be ready," said Horn.